Shakespeare Sonnet 43

‘When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see’

Jan 18, 2008 Linda Sue Grimes

Shakespeare Sonnet 43 finds the speaker musing on the transformative powers of his poetic muse. She can turn night into day, while ordinary vision fails to inspire.

First Quatrain: “When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see”

The speaker in Shakespeare Sonnet 43, “When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,” claims that he sees best when he “sleeps,” or visits the astral, mental world, because it is then that he experiences his beloved—the poetry muse. The dark behind the closed eyes of sleep, whether day or night dreaming, reveal to the speaker all the love and beauty he desires.

He muses on his beloved with a concentration directed toward fashioning his thoughts and feelings into a sonnet. The darkness is figuratively lit up with the brilliance of creativity. He sees many objects during the day that are ordinary to which he seldom gives a second glance.

Second Quatrain: “Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright”

Even the shadow of his muse is bright, filled with light that makes a “happy show.” The speaker plays with repetition here in such lines as “whose shadow shadows doth make bright” and “How would thy shadow’s form form happy show.”

And he also uses the alliteration of sibilant sounds: “to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!” He is practicing his skill with words as he celebrates and praises his poetic muse. Again, he insists that even the darkness or the shadow of his muse is “clearer” than the ordinary light of day. His mental world is brighter and more amazing to him than the physical world he perceives with his physical eyes.

Third Quatrain: “How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made”

The third quatrain is an exclamatory rhetorical question: how could I fancy seeing you in the ordinary light of day when the shadow of your presence lights my sleep, and unlike the flitting glances of daylight vision your “imperfect shade” remains with me in my mental world!?

The rhetorical question answers itself by asserting that the speaker’s mental vision is superior to his physical vision, because it is permanent when the speaker deems it so.

The Couplet: “All days are nights to see till I see thee”

Day and night reverse themselves in the musings of the speaker. If he does not encounter his muse in ordinary light, then it might as well be night for him. But when his muse appears to him, even if it is night, even if he is merely dreaming, then nighttime transforms into a “bright day[].”

Other articles on Shakespeare: Who is Shakespeare?

Sonnet Commentaries: Sonnet 1, Sonnet 2, Sonnet 3, Sonnet 4, Sonnet 5, Sonnet 6, Sonnet 7, Sonnet 8, Sonnet 9, Sonnet 10, Sonnet 11, Sonnet 12, Sonnet 13, Sonnet 14, Sonnet 15, Sonnet 16, Sonnet 17, Sonnet 18, Sonnet 19, Sonnet 20, Sonnet 21, Sonnet 22, Sonnet 23, Sonnet 24, Sonnet 25, Sonnet 26, Sonnet 27, Sonnet 28, Sonnet 29, Sonnet 30, Sonnet 31, Sonnet 32, Sonnet 33, Sonnet 34, Sonnet 35, Sonnet 36, Sonnet 37, Sonnet 38, Sonnet 39, Sonnet 40, Sonnet 41, Sonnet 42, Sonnet 73, Sonnet 96, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138

The copyright of the article Shakespeare Sonnet 43 in Poetry is owned by Linda Sue Grimes. Permission to republish Shakespeare Sonnet 43 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Edward de Vere

William Shakespeare